Synodontis petricola

[ChrissyMariko]

I think these are the Synos that would work best for me since they seem to be smaller and generally more active during the day (I like to look at my fishies!).

I was reading some of the old posts and it looks like Synos like to beat up plants. Are petricolas more or less prone to this? If I really weight the suckers down will they leave them alone? Do they eat plants or just push them around?

Can synos sting you? I don't mean to sound silly but I read somewhere that they have a barb that can cause injury to you if you mishandle them. I can't imagine a time when I would be holding one but I figure these things are good to know, right?

Would they beat up my Botia macracanthus? I'm really attached to these guys, especially now that they've gotten over their shyness and stay out all day. I especially like how, when I feed my cichlids floating food, they swim up to the top and swim along the surface upsidedown sucking up all they can while blocking the other fish.

Everyone says most Synos like their own company, is a group of three enough? That would make 3 Synos and 3 Clown Loaches in a 55g....and maybe a Pleco to clean up the glass.

Are their dietary needs close enough to cichlids that they could be happy with cichlid flakes and pellets as their staple food?

Thanks everyone. I don't mean to ask a lot of annoying questions...I used to moderate a forum and I remember how answering all the newbie questions can get kinda old.

[Seedy]

If you are concerned about plants getting 'beaten up' you might want to reconsider african cichlids...they usually rip-em-up...

Almost all catfish have very sharp fins, and some catfishes slime coat is mildy toxic to humans, so if you get 'poked' you may get a bad allergic reaction, but they don't 'sting' per say..

Not sure how the do with the Botia loaches...I would imagine they are OK though...my pleco and decorus don't seem to mind each other...

I think a group of three would be good to help them get over their 'shyness', they may also school with the loaches too, but I'm not sure about that...

I 'sneak' sinking shrimp pellets to my syno when I turn out the light...I also feed with frozen brine shrimp/blood worms...but for the most part mine just picks up scraps (he really likes osi cichlid pellets)

[ChrissyMariko]

The plant thing isn't a huge deal, I'm just curious, I'd rather keep them than not. My Yellow Labs seem to like hiding out in them sometimes but other than that they never touch them. The tank is slowing becoming a planted tank....mostly because one of them grows like a weed and I keep cutting it in half and rooting it. When I move everything to the new tank I was thinking about rooting some Java Ferns onto some of the rocks...which is why I wanted to know if they actually eat the plants or just uproot them.

Are there other fish who's slime coats can cause allergic reactions? Could this explain why if I have my arm in the tank for awhile, my skin gets irritated?

Thanks for your help.

[aharris]

I never saw my own synos until I added 4 tank raised ones to my trio of wilds. The wildcaught ones were extremely shy, but their confidence was boosted when I added the other four. The interesting thing to know though would be whether or not the four tank-raised synos would have been confident to show themselves if I hadn't already had the other three in there.

I wonder about that because IME my tank-raised fish are much less shy than the wildcaughts no matter which kind of fish we're discussing.

Any catfish with stiff spines in its fins can "fin" you if you're not careful. Petricola are no exception. You just need to be aware that the dorsal and pectoral fins stand up so stiffly for a reason, and always be careful when it comes time to net them out. They can get terribly tangled in the net.

Syno. petricola are the Syno of choice for Tropheus tanks. They do just fine on a veggie diet, but it certainly won't kill them to eat a little meat either.

I can't help you any with the plant issue though, and I don't know how they get along with loaches.